Page 37 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

T he day that had started so promising had ended with her spending hours at the warehouse, as a new forensics team came in with tools.

They slowly and carefully pulled apart more walls, finding an even bigger area where this one body had been stashed.

And with it a second one.. How many more could there be?

Even the pathologist looked at it and shuddered. “This has been here a long time,” the female pathologist declared. “No doubt he was murdered.”

“How bad?” Kate asked.

“Bad.… A bullet hole in the skull.”

“Right, well, that’s pretty definitive.” She shook her head.

“So, it’s not connected to my cases then.

” The coroner, not Dr. Smidge this time, stared at Kate, who shrugged.

“I have an open case with multiple bodies from this place,” she shared, “but one of them is current, and he was a beating victim.”

“Is he alive?”

“On life support but potentially not much longer,” she noted, glancing at her watch. “I haven’t had a chance to check in with the hospital yet.”

“I doubt it’s connected then, unless the killer or your beating victim has long ties to this building.”

“Now that could be an interesting line to tug.” Kate quickly sent an email to Reese, looking for her to do just that.

“It could very well be your killer,” Simon stated, looking at her. “He might have a tie to this place.”

“Maybe,” she muttered, “shitty deal though.”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Depends on the people involved.”

“Speaking of which, what about the person you bought this from?”

“I don’t know much but her name,” he replied. “I presume you can contact her or her realtor and get whatever information they have. The owner’s name is all I can give you, but at least it’s something.”

“If they even know anything,” the coroner noted, as she turned to look at him. “It seems as if people just buy, then turn around and get rid of things. I don’t know that they keep any history on these buildings.”

“I do,” he stated, turning to her. “I’m a developer, and I tend to hang on to everything.”

“These owners might for tax purposes, I suppose, but past that?… I don’t know.” She looked over at him. “You would know that better than me.”

He nodded, then faced Kate. “I would like to see what turns up and even contact the previous owner and see what she’s willing to say.”

Kate studied him. “Remember that you got it cheap?”

He nodded. “Yeah?”

“Maybe there’s a reason it was such a bargain.”

His eyebrows shot up as he understood what she was saying, and he nodded. “Definitely the building is unsafe though,” he noted. “Yet the city hasn’t shut it down yet. Be very careful, you guys. I have extra insurance on it, but I don’t want any accidents happening.”

“We’ll be out of here as soon as we can,” the coroner replied. “I’ll need to bring in an anthropologist for these bones.” She called for a member of her team, and he came quickly. She gave him instructions on what was needed.

“I am on it,” Bailey stated, turning to look at Kate and Simon, sharing his name with them, should they need anything further.

“Good enough,” Kate said. “It would be nice to have details on these older deaths, but I’m not exactly sure how many details will be available.”

“Not much,” the female coroner declared cheerfully. “Yet we’ll do what we can.” And, with that, the bodies, four now, were loaded and taken to her vehicle, and she drove away.

It was now three in the morning.

Kate looked over at Simon. “It almost seems as if there’s no hope of any sleep for us.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” he argued. “You need at least a couple hours.”

“I’ve been sending emails off to Rodney and Reese for them to get started in the morning,” she shared, “but I do need to crash, at least for a little bit.”

“Let’s go,” he said. As they walked back outside again, he stopped.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. Then she saw the look on his face. “Oh, no, no, no. Don’t tell me that Jay says it’s not his body.”

Simon winced and nodded. “Yep, Jay’s back. And that’s exactly what he’s saying. It’s not him.”

“And?”

“And I’m not allowed to leave until we find him.”

“Oh, crap,” she groaned, throwing back her hair. “Honestly, I think you need to tell him that you’ll be back. You might need equipment.”

“I don’t think I need equipment, but we’ll definitely have to get to the bottom of this,” Simon declared, his tone bitter. “I just get the feeling that a couple more could be in here.”

“A couple more? You’re kidding, right?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“Sorry, not kidding,” he muttered, staring at her.

“A couple more, Jesus,” she repeated. She turned, came closer to Simon, and added in a hushed tone, “Nobody will appreciate getting called back here.”

“But the forensics team is still here.”

Just then one of the techs called her over. As she joined him, he pointed at another in-between area. “Found another one,” he stated.

From the other side came another yell. “And we’ve got still another one here.”

She looked over at Simon and whispered, “I really hope you drop this place. This is now a grave for I don’t know how many souls.”

He nodded. “And you won’t get any sleep after all, will you?”

“I will in a bit, but not right now.” She turned to him. “Go on. You don’t need to stay just because I get no sleep.”

He smiled at her. “I’m the owner of the building, so I’ll stay,” he decided comfortably.

She looked at him and shrugged. “Your funeral.” Immediately she scowled. “Dear God, let me retract that.”

He snorted. “I’ll go buy coffee and get some food in here,” he suggested, turning to look at the team. “They’ll be here for a while.”

“They sure will,” she muttered, as she looked around, then nodded. “Not a one of them will say no to food and coffee.” Several of them turned and looked at her hopefully. She nodded. “We’ll grab something. It just depends on what we can get at this hour.”

“I’ll take fast food,” suggested the forensics tech in front of her. “This will be an even bigger job now.”